Black Hammer #6 review

Black Hammer is one of our favourite comics of the year, but can Jeff Lemire keep up the amazing storytelling in the conclusion of the first arc? Well, we explore the backstory of the mysterious Madame Dragonfly, and it’s fucking incredible. Not only that, but we’re enlightened as to the characters’ exile onto the farm, quickly realising there’s something very wrong.

Madame Dragonfly’s origin involves trying to bring her baby back from the dead, searching a mysterious cabin for an old witch, and binding herself to said cabin. Her rebirth involves a ton of loneliness and pain, and this trickles into her relationships that are expanded within this issue.

There’s plenty of character development throughout Issue #6, and relationships are explored as well as tested. Things don’t look great between Gail and Barbalian, as well as Abraham and Tammy. Not only that, but light is shed on Spiral City and the huge bust-up with the Anti-God. This leads into what sent the guys into exile, and it’s mindblowing.

Lemire’s efforts in making these characters feel like a family have been noticed, but he does it in such a way that they’re all very much still alone. They each have their own struggles and secrets, so there’s always an aura of mystery and tension in the air.

As always, the artwork is dark and twisted, just how we like it! It’s all very bleak and dull in a strangely appealing way; we’re always given something intriguing and new to look at when it comes to Black Hammer.